2026 New EVs Preview: Better Tech, Cheaper Prices?
For 2026, there’s a lot of excitement about EVs. There are some new models that are coming out from the inexpensive Nissan Leaf on up to the Porsche Cay and everything in between. I’m super excited to talk all about them and look forward to what’s coming out in 2026. I’m Liv. I’m Patrick. We’re the electric duo. Let’s go. Let’s go. [Music] We just spent time at the LA Auto Show. So, some of these brand new coming up EVs we actually got to see. Uh we will have independent videos of some of those. So, check those out. Uh but this first one that we’re going to talk about, we didn’t get to see at the auto show. Unfortunately, they’re Mercedes CLA with EQ technology. Yeah, we we did get to see it at IIA Mobility in Munich. And I thought it was really nice. The specs are are pretty decent. And uh it some people are already talking about it’s like a a Model 3 uh competitor and I was just like, “Yeah, but it’s going to be Mercedes. It’s going to be really expensive.” But I think the the pricing has been announced. It’s going to start at 47K, which I’m shocked about. I I actually sat in that in in Germany and played around with it quite a bit. And like Patrick said, it’s Mercedes, so I was just assuming that it was expensive. Now, obviously 47 is not like it’s cheap, but it’s not what I would have expected from the car that I was in at the time. Uh, by the way, we are in San Diego. We’re driving down uh down from North County, San Diego, down to uh San Diego proper. So, we’re taking you guys along for the drive as we chat. So, now you know where we are. Yeah. But it definitely seemed more premium to me than I was expecting. Well, it’s it it seemed Mercedes premium. Uh I was just surprised at the price because I thought it would have been like a $60,000, which the one we probably sat in was probably $60,000, but starting at 47, I think is a fantastic starting point. Um specs look pretty good. But I’m pretty happy to see Mercedes still continuing and they keep like sort of changing directions with their uh EV lineup because they had the EQ series, but now they’re just like it’s going to be the CLA uh CLB. Like they they have some other stuff coming out. Um but I think the one that a lot of people are enthusiastic about will be the CLA. I certainly am. Like I never thought the Mercedes would be a potentially viable option to replace one of our leases which expired next year, but at 47,000 that could be awesome. Yeah. And now I’m like I should have said, you know, like soaked it in a little bit more. Uh I loved having a sedan. I wanted a Model 3siz car, but now I have like the Maky. I’m used to being a little bit upright and uh a little bit higher set. So, I’m not sure if I’d want to go back to that or not, but um I think that’s going to be like a sleeper hit. And of course, um you know, with some of the like the EQS, like the one we tested out couple years ago was like over $120,000. So, there were some big discounts on it and it didn’t sell well, but I’m like it was also $120ome,000. So yeah, starting at 47 and and just say like even if it options out at like 60,000 for a decently configured one, that’s not bad. All right. And by the way, we’re going off from Mercedes, not Mercedes, Inside EVs list that I I found because I’m like we’re driving. I don’t want to forget one. So we’ll link it down below. Um but yeah, I did want to say, by the way, it’s an 800vt uh system. So that’s super fast charging, which is great. I mean, I think that we’re going to see a lot of people and we’re seeing a lot of brands. Um, one of you guys that were in traffic right now. So, this is what you get when you’re in SoCal in traffic. Thank you, Maki, for It was in Blue Cruise, but the pre-colision came on because everybody just like stopped. They break really hard. Yeah. Might need to get back to the carpool lane. So, uh, we’re we’re certainly, at least I’m hoping, and we’re certainly seeing this, more automakers bringing, uh, more affordable vehicles with a little bit better specs, which we we really need to see. We can’t have that luxury pricing all over. Now, um, continuing to roll down this list is a vehicle that we saw at the auto show, the new Jeep Recon. They actually revealed it, I think, just the night before we attended the media event at the auto show. Um, we didn’t film a solo video with it, but we did take a look at it. It is a $65,000 rugged Jeep um with like doors and everything that detach without tools. What else? Like just really Jeepy. Yeah, it’s it has that Jeep vibe. So, I think a lot of people are excited by that. I’m excited to see it. It’s not necessarily the vehicle for us again. Uh, but it, you know, the the range on it would be a concern for me if I were buying something in 2026, which is 250 mi. So, full battery, 250 mi. Um, but considering it’s like this, you know, rugged all-terrain tires, very upright. It It’s understandable why it’s about that. I would like to see it better. I think that’s going to be like a a a big holdup for a lot of people. Um, and the price 65,000 which I I get. You know, you’re getting some of that ruggedness uh added to it. Uh, so I don’t know. I I’m excited to see it out there. I think a lot of people will will be enthusiastic. I can’t wait to see some people take it off-road and actually have like a a full off-road because like there there’s like the Maky Rally, the Iona 5, TRX, right? TRXT. XRT. That’s Toyota TRX. So XRT. So, 5 XRT, by the way. So, uh they’re but they’re not really off-road. No, that’s a different category. And also, I think like um questioning the value of this really depends on if we were the person that this is made for. And whoever that’s made for is Oh, Lord, the breaking heart. Yeah. Is going to be able to um assess for themselves, right, whether the car is is valuable. So, I think like stuff like being able to take the doors off without tools, uh, if you’re a Jeep person, how valuable is that to you? How difficult is it normally? Like there’s a lot about the way that a vehicle functions that is personal to the person who it’s sort of targeted to that I think would be really interesting to see. So, not just off-road, but also like um does it do all sorts of Jeep things, which includes like being immensely customizable, right? I would love to give it a try, like take it off-road and stuff like that. Uh, yeah. And it’s and it’s sort of like the same thing is like the 250 miles is probably not the best for a road trip, but it’s also probably not the vehicle that you’re buying if you’re like, I’m going to do a 3,000 mi road trip. Probably not. So, yeah, I’m excited. Uh, let let us know what you think about that. Oh, what’s next? Here’s the ve I know. This is kind of fun cuz like it’s it’s a surprise list. Um, the vehicle that’s next could be the one that you get for a 3,000mi road trip. The BMW EX-3. Oh, yeah. That we saw unveiled in Munich actually. We’re just going to like drop that in there because it was like the most exciting thing that we’ve done probably so far at all in this car stuff. But, um, we then also got to spend a day with BMW at their design work studio here in Santa Monica, not too far from us. We, uh, got to spend more time in the EX3. I got to talk to the designers. Um, this is the first vehicle in the Noya Classa lineup, which is like the entire redesign of their EV lineup. This was sort of spearheaded by their Santa Monica design branch, which is like an independent industrial design firm that’s like wholly owned by BMW. And if you don’t know, which I wouldn’t imagine you would, I studied industrial design. So, this is just like it was a star struck moment of like incredible just glee to to have that experience. And it’s really cool to see what they’re doing. So, the new EX-3, I think we both kind of were a little bit floored by it. Yeah, it’s for multiple reasons. So, yeah, the specs are great. They’re talking about like 400 uh kilowatt charging, 400 miles of range um at $60,000, which uh you know, it’s a bit more than like a Maky GT, but it also it’s like it’s it’s BMW, so you get a bit more premium feel to it. So, it’s pretty exciting to see that. And not a bad price point. And I’m sure again they’ll have like higher trims that cost a lot more. One of the things that we were sort of blown away by like actually sitting in it was the screen that’s like right under the windshield that’s sort of a a distance from you, but it actually works really well as sort of like a heads-up display, but you have information over in the far corner as well. So, it it really is like worked way better in person than it does in video and photos. So, it’s it’s some pretty interesting technology. Really interesting design language. I like it. I know it’s a bit controversial as anything BMW does, but I’m I’m excited. So, by the way, that’s a panoramic vision display and it’s across the entire dash. So, it’s like the bottom couple inches. Um hopefully we can throw some B-roll on, but uh that is uh by default in the vehicle. So, this is not an add-on. This is what it’s built with. Um you can add on a heads up display, which I think is cool. So, it’s like um you know, like the the BMW, the EQS, they had the Hypers screen, which was like a $7,500 add-on or something, which was where you’d get a screen across the whole dash, right? The whole um interior. And that made the interior look amazing. But, uh then if you didn’t want to, you saved 7500, 7,300, whatever. But then you missed out on like a whole Yeah. You missed out on a big part of the vibe. But the uh EX-3, that panoramic vision display is included. Um, and it’s really kind of an integral part of the cabin because they’re very like uh informationheavy but uncluttered, which is cool. So, everything’s very streamlined to the point that like um their uh center screen, the multimedia display is at an angle so that the steering wheel doesn’t sort of cut out any portion of the display. Like on the Equinox EV, if you haven’t watched our things we hate about it, spoiler, we love the Equinox EV. But if we had any things we didn’t like, like one of the things is that the steering wheel blocks some of these sort of essential functions. So I think it’s really cool that BMW considered that and like added to the streamline nature um but still kept it like informationrich. So that’s a super sweet car that obviously we have kind of a crush on. Huh. and and they’re coming out with a range of vehicles from BMW with the Noah Classa uh design language and i3 is coming like all of these are coming. I3 is the first uh they’re starting to make them in Europe at the end of 2025. Uh they’re going to be making them in South Carolina uh for and they’ll start being available in the US in summer of 2026. So, I’m really looking forward to seeing those. And I I’ve I’ve heard a lot of other other Maky owners talking about like this is what’s going to replace my Maky and I could see that for us. Uh although I want to just get a Maky rally, but that’s another Adriatic Blue. Adriatic Blue for us. Yeah. Um obviously now rolling into kind of the perfect segway is the BMW i3 is coming. So, um that’s the sedan basically. Um, nothing like the OG i3, which is one of the cuter cars, um, that I’ve considered. Uh, little cutie pie, little panda. No, this is not that. This is just a normalsized sedan. Yeah. And it will be a competitor to the the Model 3 and the uh, CLA. So, it’s it’s We don’t know much about that one yet. That one will be one to keep an eye out on. So, I’m I’m excited for that. What’s next? Next are our uh more affordable intros. Finally, the Chevy Bolt is back. It’s basically in the form of the Chevy Bolt EUV. It’s been about three years since we’ve seen the Chevy Bolt. Um yeah, cuz it was 2023. So 2026, the new Chevy Bolt is back in its sort of more uh large SUV form. And it looks kind of a lot like it used to, but yeah, minor tweaks. minor tweaks, minor uh aesthetic tweaks, but like larger internal tweaks. Uh three times the charging speed. So, pretty much the same charging speed as the Maki, right? Good range, good charging speeds. Uh and the price, it’s under 30k. So, that that is just I think this is going to be one of the biggest new things uh for EVs in 2026. And like we’re going to have this little rough period as the tax credits went went away, but I think once we start getting this and we’ll, you know, we’re going to talk about the Leaf next. Um, it’s really exciting to see affordable options coming out and everybody knows the Bolt. They’re familiar with it. It’s not going to be fancy. It’s not going to do, you know, a lot of uh the the the things, you know, like with the hyper screens or anything like that, but you’ll be able to get super cruise on it. You know, like there’s some decent tech in it. But the main thing is is like good quality, solid uh EV that’s affordable. And one of the things I’m excited about, again, you know, talking about the the lack of tax credits, which is disappointing we don’t have it because we’d be talking about under 25,000 with a tax credit. But the main thing is is like we’ll be able to sort of go like if you’re considering a gas car for not much more, you can get this uh Bolt EUV or Bolt EV. Um just Bolt, sorry. Chevy Bolt. Chevy Bolt. And it’s a it’s a good deal for you. And you don’t have to worry about like, you know, do I qualify for the tax credit? How do I do the tax credit? I need help to do the tax credit. It it just simplifies things. And it just is straight bottom line. It’s a good car. you should buy it. Look at all the benefits. So, we I believe filmed a separate video with the new Chevy Bolt. We saw it at the auto show. They had one of what I think is one of the coolest uh sort of bolt enthusiast press drives which was on the Universal Studios lot. So, people were able to like drive around the Desperate Housewives set and good the good place and uh you know where Back to the Future, their center area. So, uh they did that. We we were not attending that. Um it was for previous Bolt owners. Yeah, it was for previous Bolt owners. That’s so cool. Yeah, which was a really really cool way to do it. Um but I’ve been excited to see it. We obviously saw some people enjoy it then and uh it did not disappoint. We saw it in uh oh, habanero. Habanero orange. Is that it? Orange. Why do I always forget it? Habanero. Yeah. Anyways, uh and also a beautiful blue. And I just think I really love the Bolt. Um, we have a video kind of declaring that we would love to have a Maki and a Bolt. Uh, we tried to buy one a couple times and had some trouble with dealer markups and stuff like that. It really was a tossup between the Equinox EV and buying a used Bolt. So, I’ve always had a huge crush on the Bolt. I think it’s a lovely vehicle. I think it’s uh especially now with the souped-up version, this modern upgrade. It’s it’s like enough range, it’s enough charging uh for a lot of things, right? and sitting inside it at the auto show, it just felt very comfortable, familiar, carlike, uh, suitable, well-appointed. Um, it didn’t feel cheap. It just felt good. Uh, so then now let’s roll into the Nissan Leaf, which we also have a video with. Um, felt similar. It certainly felt similar, but uh, it felt different. Uh like there was certainly some features like they have um the shifter is buttons on the on the console. Yeah. On the dash. It on the dash. It felt a little cheap, but it was a little bit. Yeah. It’s like inexpensive. I mean, but it’s sort of like again, it’s like you’re getting a tremendous amount of range charging, all of that for 30ome thousand or I I think that one is like like 32, I believe. So, you’re still getting like something really good. And the top of the line is like 38 and has like the electrochromatic roof so that you can tint the roof. Um, and so like I think that’s really cool. We saw that years ago and was like, “Wow, that’s like a fancy option on a car.” And then now it’s like on a $38,000 Leaf, which is a really fun option, a fun thing to have. And uh you know, something else that’s just sort of nice to see becoming more affordable. Um and one thing that surprised me seeing the Leaf in person, uh people were saying it sort of got a more SUV vibe. It it does, but it still feels really small, like compact. So, it doesn’t feel like a, you know, like you’re deciding between a Leaf and an Equinox. It feels way smaller than the Equinox. Yeah. But it feels uh same the same as the Bolt, like size-wise, and I’m so excited that we have these options on the market. I think that both the Bolt EV and the Old Leaf had a weird vibe, right? They they were just like a little quirky. And I think that now they’re very approachable. They’re very normal uh but cool and modern, right? So, they’re not weird anymore. They’re just cool and I think it’s really awesome. I uh some things I liked um the the ergonomics of both of their cabins were lovely, spacious. If you know, I I’m a right leg amput, so I cross my left leg over over to drive. There was tons of room. I I kind of like the leaf how the back door handles are recessed, so you reach in to open them. That’s very ergonomic. It’s just it’s so cool that we have these options under $30,000. Well, at least slightly over close, but yeah, very very close as we now get into traffic. So, you know, and that’s where it comes into an interesting point, right? A lot of the cars that sometimes take the spotlight have a ton of horsepower, a ton of range. Um, but we’re stuck in traffic a lot of the time, right? And and I know the horsepower matters when we’re like trying to get around people. We’re trying to get on an on-ramp, but like when we’re just sitting in traffic, what really matters is comfort, right? Um and your range is super efficient when you’re in traffic, too. So, let’s roll on to the next thing, which is um the Slate track. I was going to be like, if Slate’s not next, I want to talk about Slate. It’s uh we have to talk about Slate if we’re talking about vehicles under $30,000. So Slate was announced earlier this year only. We were lucky enough to be at their unveiling at an airplane hanger in Long Beach, which was so cool. The moment they drove through the sort of hanger doors, uh Patrick was putting a reservation in. Yeah. Like right away. This was a hold the camera and reserve. Uh there’s another one of those coming up. So we’ll tell you about that one, too. But um it’s really really cool. Well, in the moment they announced it, they said $25,000 for a blank slate being a base truck, right? Uh no, you know, manual windows, no radio, tiny little uh instrument cluster, no screen, uh all that, right? Um so that’s your blank slate. Now, without the tax credit, um the price is up a little. Some people were quoting the the pricing with the tax credit to start with, so they were saying closer to like 20,000. I think honestly like um Slate was relatively clear of like it’s 25. Yeah, they were clear. People pick up picked up on the like 20 because it that’s what was the nice headline. Um it does bring up some interesting things and I’m just going to slightly mention something in 2027. The Ford truck EV truck that they’re going to be be building in Louisville. Um they’re saying at 30,000. So, like this may be just a few that may just be a few thousand more than the Slate and we’ll have four doors and an infotainment system and like potentially better range. We don’t know. Like it’s like a a lot of extra features compared to the Slate for just a couple thousand more. But I still think the Slate is very intriguing uh for the right customer. Like a lot of people will just be like, “Yeah, that’s great. It’s it’s I want the lowest cost thing.” Um, yes, it has crank windows, but you can option uh power windows, which is I think a lot of people would do, but I would, but it it just gives you a lot of flexibility. And with Fleet customers, they um they were just talking about like if you get the fender dinged, you could literally just take it off your shelf and put on a new one because of the way they made the fasteners uh easily accessible. Um, you can wrap it so that like you can do your, you know, if you’re a gardening service, you could do like in the summer or like we can trim your hedges and put a wrap with that. And then as you get toward the winter, you could be like we can uh, you know, do snow removal or whatever. And the wrap kit is $500 and then you can do it yourself. Yeah. And I’m sure like the different wraps like this customized ones will maybe more, but but it just gives you a lot of options, a lot of flexibility. And it’s it’s one of those where I think it’s gotten a lot of interest from like maybe people my age in 50s or whatever that are just like this reminds me of the old trucks and you didn’t, you know, you wanted it to have like uh rubber floor mats or floors so that you could just spray it out and things like that. So, it’s sort of like I think it’s going to be really sort of cool to see a bit of the retro vibe just because it’s so basic. Um, and it may flop. You know, people may go like, I’d rather have a truck that’s a little bit nicer for a few thousand more. But I think it could be a very interesting thing for fleets, people with kids, cuz we we talked about uh to a lot of people that were like, it wouldn’t it be great to be able to buy that for somebody’s car and then it’s like you don’t care. You know, we’re next to the loudest cute truck. They’re busting. So, speak old school truck. old school. I honestly um I loved having an old car. I had a 98 RAV 4 for 16 years and I loved that thing. Actually, do I have it for more? No, 17 years more. Anyways, um I loved that thing and I loved that. Um I didn’t mind if it got a little scratched up. I took the rear seats out so it was only a two-seater. I mostly like threw stuff in it. We hold a lot of things in that, including my trike. And it was nice having a car that I didn’t have to worry about that much. But I also love the feeling that if something did happen, like you scratched it, like you said, it would be cool to know, um, you could save up and then like pop off that panel and then replace it, right? Replaceability, fixibility, customization being built in without it being something that’s necessarily a complete luxury or excessive. Uh, it that’s just really cool. I think that’s really cool. And we talked about like it may be ideal for us, you know, there could be a lot of things that would work, but it could be like I could justify it by saying like we could have a nice car. We’re going to take that on road trips. That’s when we’re going out for, you know, whatever. But like nice to hop in something like the Slate when we’re going downtown. um parking may be sketchy or or whatever and just not worrying about it cuz it’s just, you know, and it’s the range isn’t going to be great on a uh 200 250 I think it is. We’re driving 100 miles today, by the way. Yeah. Round trip. And I’m like, this is really long. Yeah. So, by the way, um I have to tell you guys what we are doing. So, I’m going to get a hearing aid. So, uh, my hearing was damaged, uh, in the bombing that injured me. If you’re interested in that story, I think we have it right somewhere. We have we have we’ll we’ll link it. Um, but, uh, a hearing aid is not covered by insurance, unfortunately. My my hearing’s gotten pretty bad. It’s been really challenging. Um, so I reached out to a company. Rude. I reached out to a couple companies be like, you know, uh, please can I test your hearing aid? Right? because we test out smart stuff. Um, and Belone is giving me a hearing aid, which I am so excited about. I’m so excited that I get to hear. It’s uh not something that I was going to get covered through health insurance. So, I don’t know when that was going to happen. So, now I can hear that guy, but I want to bring it up because they were also giving away a hearing aid. Uh, now, was that the car? Yeah, it was it tracked onto the back of the bike and didn’t Yeah, that was not comforting cuz I’m like, that’s getting too close. Yeah. Um, so pay attention when a bike is coming between you and the other car. So anyways, they’re giving away a hearing aid for the season. I think it’s like here for the holidays, like here. Haha. So I’m going to put the link down below. So if you need a hearing aid or if you know someone who needs a hearing aid, share the link with them and have them enter. And I think it’s like up until December 31st. So I’m sure we’ll have this video out before then. But I think that’s really cool. Yeah. Okay. So Slate, uh, we still have a reservation for Slate. I’m still honestly really excited about it. Yeah. Yeah. I I I mean I think the the coolest thing is is like uh not that it’s inexpensive, but it it becomes like an easier purchase. Like if you’re buying the the EX-3, you’re like, “This sort of has to be meet all of my needs because I’m spending so much money on it.” Um but a slate is sort of like, yeah, let’s give it a try. You know, what’s the worst that can happen? And it wouldn’t meet all of our needs really. Well, for the the run around town, it’s like it’s fine. Like this morning I had to run to the dentist. It’s like um And you took the Equinox. I took the Equinox. That would be a perfect like and even like this. Uh of course I don’t think it’s going to have any advanced driver’s assistant stuff. So that might like I may not want to do the 100 mile round trip. So that you put Comet uh AI on it. I bet they’ll work on it as if they’re as open as they say they are. That would be perfect. So there’s potential. Anyways, you have to let us know what you think. Do you think we should get a slate? Are what are you interested in? Do let us know actually what you’re interested in. Um, wait a minute. We must have jumped far into the future because these are exciting future vehicles. Let’s go back and after the slate is the next vehicle that we reserved. Yeah. Not this last year, the year before, right? It might have been the year before. It was the year before. The Rivian R2. So, we were fortunate enough to be at that reveal as well. They uh it it’s their Lagouna Beach facility, their flagship basically, a beautiful old theater that they did the reveal in. They rolled out the R2. Uh Patrick and I were like across the way from each other as it came out and I saw him immediately reserving it and then they rolled out the R3 and I tried to reserve that but they’re they’re like that’s in the future. It’s not for reserving yet. Yeah. So we’ll talk about reality first. the well the R2 is smaller than the Rivian R1 uh more affordable doesn’t really cut many corners but uh just well it it does for some people that will like it doesn’t have air suspension it’s not going to be you know 800 horsepower so it does cut corners but for people like us it’s sort of like those are corners we don’t really care about yeah we don’t and the same with the size it’s smaller Um, it’s I don’t know, maybe uh Bronco Sports size, you know. Perfect. Um, maybe slightly bigger. Gosh, it’s hard to compare sometimes. I always thought the uh like the R1T and R1S from Rivian were hard to compare. And the R1S is actually slightly smaller than the R1T. But anyways, uh yeah, the R2 like you can actually see one of the videos that somebody else put up and I’m like literally like looking down and reserving on the phone as I’m filming. Uh we got to see a pre-production model at the LA Auto Show. They’re they’re getting closer and closer. They’ve um moved the the NAS port to the left rear so it’ll make it easier to charge it at Tesla Superchargers with the short uh cables. Um, but yeah, it I it looks like as you’re walking up and from a distance, you’re just like there’s there’s a R1S and then as you get closer you see like, oh no, that’s a R1S. The one in the middle is an R2. So, it really has that that Rivian look um and feel. And I think it’s a really good size and I think it’s starting at 45, right? So, I think it’s going to be really appealing to people. Um, and it’s just like, you know, one of these other options. Uh, you know, I it’s sort of completely different than like a Model Y, but a lot of people are like, uh, it could be a great option for people that are looking at a Model Y. Um, Model Y is looking sort of older now because it’s been out for a few years, like the Mache as well. So, it’s it’s something different and new, good price. Um, Rivian’s having their autonomy day uh December 11th. I don’t think we’ll have the video out before then. So, they they had it, but I I think they’re going to talk about their autonomous features. And who knows what they’re going to be coming out with. It sounds like they’re doing a whole day’s worth. So, I don’t expect it to be like a minor update of what they’re going to be doing. Um, and I don’t think they would ex make it exclusively on the R1 series. I think the R2 would be something that they’d want to have this stuff on, especially if there’s a subscription involved, which it seems like everybody’s going to be doing. So, um I don’t I think this is one that a lot of people are really excited about. Um the the they’re going to be starting them building them in Illinois, but they have their other plant that they’re building, so they have the capacity to build a lot. And the future Rivian is sort of dependent on the success of the R2. So, uh, hopefully you guys are enthusiastic about it. I think there are a lot of people that are. Um, and then it sort of makes me start thinking it’s like an R2 at 45 versus that BMW EX-3 at 60. Like you could probably spec out the R2 pretty well. Yeah, that’s sure. Yeah, it did it again. Oh, no. That’s weird. Uh, there’s a feedback feature. Um, I forget where it’s at. I’ll have to link to that video. You can give feedback. So, I’m gonna give feedback. Okay. So, by the way, you were saying 45,000 and that made me think of T. There’s like there’s all these interesting comparisons, right? So, T, we have a video with them. I hope we don’t run out of cards because we got a lot of references. Um, they’re a $45ish,000 truck that is the size of a Mini Cooper and it has a standard truck bed. Well, almost compact truck bed. So it can four seedar. Oh wow, there’s a rally. Well, nice. Was that grabber blue? Yep. That was cool. So, uh anyways, uh yeah, I think they said you can put a 4×8 piece of plywood if you drop the the tailgate and hit all but um so that’s 45,000 and then we’ll have the R2 for 45,000. So we have these compelling options. It’s going to be interesting to see um who succeeds. I want them all to succeed because we need small trucks that can fit into any parking spot that are useful in dense urban environments like the TE truck. And we also need a Rivian like we need these options. It’s not it’s not quite the plethora yet of ICE vehicles that we have. So we need variety and options in these electric offerings and I hope they all succeed because it we we need this. So, um, at the same time, I think it’s like a really cool comparison. $45,000. T is, uh, a bit of a stretch. They got to overcome a lot of obstacles to get into production, and they’re going to be using contract manufacturing. Uh, so they’re not building their own factory. They’re going to contract it out. Who knows who they’re going to use, but they they have a long way to go to to actually get into production, but we’re really excited to see it. And, um, as with any new startup, it’s sort of like how does it get serviced and things like that. And like Rivian uh is expanding their service network. It’s always a struggle for these new startups. Very exciting to see them but worry about it. You know, how are they get serviced? And um what do you do if you have a problem and then the service center is like a 100 miles away? That’s realistic. That’s for another video. But yeah. Um so moving on to the next thing after the Rivian R2. Obviously, the R3 is slated to come out in a couple of years, and that’s smaller and cheaper than the R2. That’s my dream vehicle. Um, but we hope for the R2 to succeed. Um, so Range Rover electric. Yeah, I don’t know much about the Range Rover. I know I don’t think it’ll be big in the US. Um, Range Rover in general isn’t big. there’s like a huge amount of fans of Range Rover, but I just I just don’t see it becoming huge here. Um, it’d be nice. It looks like it’s pretty decent, but it looks gorgeous. I love that kind of boxy aesthetic. Um, and like a lot of vehicles coming out, it’s going to have an 800 volt architecture, which is really cool. I I think that’s cool. Um, obviously the Ford vehicle will not. Um, but so it’s it’s cool seeing vehicles that do have and cool seeing vehicles that don’t. Um, and like rolling that into the price, I’m assuming. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, I mean, Kia, Hyundai, Genesis are doing such a great job of incorporating 800 volt in cars that are not expensive. So, uh, it is a way to save some money is doing the 400vt systems. Uh but at the same time it’s like that’s how you can get some great charging speeds and the charging infrastructure is way more capable of handling 800volt cars uh as it’s expanding and growing. Um Iona for example with their 400 kilowatt chargers would be great with those and hopefully we’ll have a video out before or after this one. We’re we’re getting ready to visit Iona’s headquarters uh and meet with them as well as the the auto manufacturers that are part of Iona and tour their facility and one of their rechargeries. So, we’re really excited by that and we just attended the grand pre-opening of the one in Oceanside. So, very cool and that’s literally like four miles from our house. So, it’s so awesome. Um, the next vehicle, we have a couple couple Mercedes, but we sort of hit on that, but the Porsche Kayen electric. Um, I know they just did the first drive event, which is cool. We heard some good things, but we first saw it recently in Munich. Um, where they were displaying the wireless charging, which is pretty cool. It is an optional add-on, an expensive optional add-on, right? It’s very expensive. It’s like 10 or 12,000. So, uh, yeah. and and the the you know joke is is sort of like if you’re buying a Porsche Kayon, you can afford to buy wireless charging. Um but there’s also a lot of comments of like why would anybody want wireless charging? And and I, you know, as often as I’ve like gone out to the garage and I need to get something from the back seat of the Baky and I got to like step over the charging cable, like I wouldn’t mind having it. I wouldn’t pay $10,000 for it. But if you told me like maybe it’s a couple thousand uh addition and I can install it and it’s in the garage and then like this EV would have it and then my next one would would also have it like I think it’s a worthwhile investment that I would consider just for the convenience of it over the long run. Uh yes and not just convenience like uh two things I think it’s potentially more accessible right so if you have someone who has any mobility impairment um they can still drive but accessing the side where the charging cable is uh might be more difficult depending on your configuration previous garage was a single car garage and I couldn’t actually um get in and out the vehicle easily in the wheelchair so I actually had to crawl in and out of the garage So accessing the side where the charging was would have been hard. Um we were in a gas vehicle at the time. So making it more accessible, which wireless charging would do, would be really really cool. But then also I think it makes it more accessible to the people that find the idea of charging intimidating. When we’ve removed the human variable of having to interact with charging and you simply just drive your car and then you park it at home and that’s it. Um, suddenly it’s unbelievably more accessible mentally. I think the idea that like you don’t have to worry about a thing. I mean, you could worry about public charging, right? But like if you have a Porsche and you’re going to probably charge at home a lot, um, and never have to worry about anything. It’s not just, yay, a little BMW i3. You did that on purpose. Yeah, I knew you would be excited by the i3. But I think I think that’s a huge thing because then it’s not just um you know ah it’s more convenient. It’s like you literally will never have to think about it unless you’re public charging and if you uh have a Porsche you probably have a single family dwelling where you can charge but we could assume. I don’t know. What do you think? Yeah, it just uh it’s one of those things like uh some people like um having a wireless charging for their phone. I gen generally plug mine in most of the time, but it is really nice having like a wireless charger by the bed or something like that where it’s most convenient. You don’t have to worry about it. So, I I think at first I remember people going like, why would you want wireless charging for your phone? It’s can’t be as efficient and blah blah blah and all these things. But, um you know, now it’s sort of like it’s a like every phone has to have wireless charging. I just think it’s uh it’s going to be cool when this is not a luxury option, right? when wireless charging isn’t just the Porsche Cayenne, when it’s the Leaf or the Bolt. Um, and Leaf and Bolt owners will be able to just drive into their parking spot and your car is automatically charging. I just think that’s like the next level beyond any other thing of EV life. Yep. Yeah. And then, you know, just in general, like the uh Porsche has done a really good job with the Macan um the updated uh Tyam. So, the uh the Cayenne is going to be really great as well. And uh you know, I I think it’s going to be interesting to see like how does the Porsche, you know, audience uh potential buyers, how do they like a larger uh electric vehicle? because like a Macan and a Tyat I guess I guess Tyan uh I I think they’re sort of easier to think about and use but I don’t know I I don’t know people who buy Kayads as much although we did know one so anyways but that’s kind of our list at the moment uh like I said or like Patrick said we’ll list the inside EVs article down below that we were reading through uh there’s a lot of cool EVs coming there there really are and there’s for coming. We just sort of wanted to focus on we skipped the Ferraris and stuff. We skipped the fancy hella expensive um there’s always fancy hella expensive EVs, but um we’re super interested in more accessible options. Um and we’re really excited about everything that’s coming up, which even though um the wave is moving away from EVs, the wave is still moving in the right direction. So, there’s lots of good stuff coming and I’m excited about it. Yep. Yeah. So, basically, uh, you know, think about what’s coming out in 2026. Let us know which ones you’re most excited about because that also will help us like dictate like how we, uh, do our coverage over the next year, like which cars do we try to get loaners and do reviews and things like that. But just in general, like are you guys more interested in the uh budget friendly 30,000 or are you looking still for like a performanceoriented uh $60,000 cars or you excited by the recon, you know? So, just just let us know and we’ll see if we can provide coverage. We’re getting close to our exit, so we’re making our way over. So, while Patrick navigates towards the exit, definitely let us know what you’re interested in. We really are listening to you guys. Um, we used to only make one video a week. Uh, but now we’re trying to push it more. So, you’re going to see more of a variety of content. If you are really into Makis, if you’re really into what we started this channel as, and you are a Maki owner and enthusiast, then I really do hope you join us at the Mustang Maki Club of America and 4DV clubs. If you’re a Ford DV enthusiast or lightning owner and seriously like if you if you like Ford DVs come join us. So if you just want to hang out we do a lot of talk about Ford EVs about Machis about Lightnings about different groups across the country. We help people get connected. We help people find good dealerships. We talk about meetups all sorts of good stuff. Um so be sure to come find us. We have all the details down below in all of our videos and it’s a really awesome and thriving community. Um, so we’ve reached our exit. I’m so excited to go get a hearing aid. Go enter that contest down below. So, it’s time to go. Thank you so much for joining us for this video where we discussed some of the upcoming EVs for 2026 that we are super excited about as we drive towards the sun and I’m squinting. Shall I end this video? Yeah, hurry up, Nan. Thank you so much for joining us for this video. A huge thank you to our patrons whose names are scrolling across the screen right now. We so appreciate you guys and your help and support of us in this channel as well as you, our YouTube members, too. Thank you. Thank you so very much for your constant support and positivity. You guys rock. Thank you for liking, watching, subscribing, and just remember that whatever you drive, whether it’s a rickety old thing or something that’s coming in 2026, whatever it is, enjoy the ride. Bye bye.
In this video we talk about many of the new EVs set to debut in 2026. We’re excited to see lower cost options like the Nissan Leaf & Chevy Bolt (both about $30,000) plus the newcomer Slate that is working on a barbones affordable truck (mid 20s). A more affordable Rivian SUV is on the way in the form of the R2 which will start at $45,000. We are also eagerly anticipating the BMW iX3, the first of their Neue Klasse family of vehicles. Not to be outdone, Mercedes has some new EVs lined up for 2026 as well.
Overall, it is going be an exciting year and we’re excited to see more affordable EVs showing up!
Here’s the link to enter Beltone’s Hear for the Holidays Giveaway! http://beltone.cc/4qTaqlB
Just state that Liv Leigh referred you. I don’t gain anything from you entering. I just want to share this opportunity with other people who may need it too!
InsideEVS 2026 EV preview:
https://insideevs.com/features/726302/future-electric-cars/
0:00 Intro
0:49 Mercedes CLA
4:31 Jeep Recon
7:25 BMW iX3
11:53 BMW i3
12:33 Chevy Bolt
16:15 Nissan Leaf
19:14 Slate
24:37 Hearing Aid
27:25 Rivian R2
31:38 Telo Truck
34:02 Range Rover Electric
35:55 Porsche Cayenne
40:30 Outro
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